Gov't Aims to Crack Down on Immigration Scams

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government is warning immigrants about scammers pledging too-good-to-true legal help for immigration cases.

The initiative, announced Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department, is part education program and part crackdown on people offering immigration legal services who aren't recognized by the government to do so.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is leading the effort to warn immigrants that lawyers and advocates offering to help them with their cases must be accredited by the Board of Immigration Appeals. It decides how immigration law is interpreted and implemented.